A Victorious Saint Valentine's
by Midnight's Violet Haze
Summary: Roof-top confessions, cameo appearances and awkward pauses galore; it's a Valentine's Day you'll never forget. You can bet on it. :Fifth in the Happy Holidays Series: Modern AU R&R please.


**I'd just like to say thank you to all the people that have stuck with me this far. I appreciate your support and you definitely deserve better than these long waits and the horrible writing…**

**I tried to make the Valentine's edition more fun (as a result there's a lot of random-ness). Of course there's romance (It's VALENTINES for Kami's sake), but I tried to avoid being too mushy. Let's hope I succeeded.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto and Valentine's day are not mine (can a person even own a holiday?)**

---Line's not working—

A Victorious Saint Valentine's

Distractedly emptying his backpack's contents onto the top shelf, mind far more occupied with peering across the hall from behind his dull green locker door, Sasuke definitely did not make the most inconspicuous picture.

"She's avoiding me," he muttered out loud and then immediately regretted it. After all he wasn't alone…

"Oh, don't worry Sasuke-kun, I'm sure she's just…busy," Sakura said cheerfully, her bouncing pink head hardly helping Sasuke remain hidden. Then again, Naruto, lying on the ground laughing his guts out in his usual blindingly orange outfit, always seemed to draw attention to their 'group'.

Across the hallway, Hinata finally noticed the three pairs of eyes trained on her and quickly ducked into a nearby classroom. Naruto laughed louder.

"That's not even her class! She has Math with me right now!" Naruto choked out between chuckles.

"Well maybe you should get there, dobe," Sasuke bit out irritably, but was, of course, ignored.

"Damn, ya really messed things up didn't ya, teme? Practically molesting her an' all." Naruto continued, panting as he started to calm down.

"I DIDN'T MOLEST HER!" Sasuke shouted.

.

.

.

Every head in the hallway turned and low whispering broke out.

"_Isn't that Uchiha Sasuke-"_

"_Did he just say-"_

"_Kami, what a-"_

"_To think that the younger brother of Itachi-sama-"_

"_I bet this has to do with Zaku's party where-"_

"Where what?" Sakura cut in, a menacing aura creeping out of her as she towered over the unfortunate boy that had started that last sentence.

"N-Nothing," said boy cowered.

Sakura smirked, "Exactly." She then turned to sweep a threatening glare over the rest of the hallway, "If I ever here any of you say anything about Sasuke-kun…well, let's keep it a surprise."

'_It's times like these that being her friend seems worth it…'_

"Besides," she said, facing Sasuke and Naruto as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "If anything Sasuke-kun sexually harassed her, not _molested_."

"No way!" yelled Naruto.

'_But then again…'_

Sasuke grinded his teeth over their argument of the exact definition of what had happened at the New Year's Eve party, "Why did I even tell you guys anything? You'd think I'd know better by now…"

"Well," Sakura started, not quite grasping that it was a rhetorical question, "Leaving it to yourself, you obviously screwed up and if not me, the only other people you could talk to would be your emotionally stunted older brother, our perverted guidance counselor, or that one over there." She nodded her head at the blond, still stationed on the floor. "As if that idiot's ever had a good idea…"

Frowning in thought, Sasuke decided to ponder Sakura's word's seriously, recalling every other time he had every taken Naruto's advice.

– _Multiple Flashback Montage – _

_Naruto with a bunch of spray cans. "Of course graffiti-ing the Fire Country presidential monument is a good idea!"_

_Naruto with a blackboard eraser. "Of course playing a prank on our new guidance counselor the first day of high school is a good idea!"_

_Naruto with a paintball gun. "Of course having a paintball war to end all paintball wars on the roof of the hospital is a good idea!"_

–_Multiple Flashback Montage End–_

Sasuke's eye twitched spastically before he turned to regard Sakura. "Point taken-"

"HEY!"

"-But wouldn't it be a little…weird?" he asked, referring to Sakura's, to put it _lightly_, monster crush on him since the age of five, which was amazing considering they only first met when they were seven.

"Oh, that?" Sakura said with a slightly overly enthusiastic giggle, "I'm totally over it. Ancient history."

"Yeah…"

.

.

.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, "So…?"

Sakura started and then frowned unconsciously, "Hmm?"

Raking a hand through his dark, dark hair, Sasuke averted his eyes. "The advice?" he reminded her.

"Oh!" said Sakura, a little surprised, "Ah, right. I said I'd help you out, didn't I?" _'Somehow I didn't actually expect him to ask…'_

Sasuke didn't bother to answer, not that Sakura noticed, too preoccupied with 'brainstorming'.

"Well," she said finally, "The best advice I could give you would be to…"

Sasuke inched forward .

"Talk to her!"

.

.

.

"Eh, I think we've set a new record for amount of awkward pauses in a hallway conversation before 8AM!"

Sasuke muttered murderously under his breath before turning on his heel and marching away just as the bell rang.

Meanwhile Naruto finally figured out that nobody had been listening to him while he defended his 'good ideas' and decided to rely on the time tested 'Bully Mentality' meaning: the only way to raise his own self-esteem would be to degrade Sakura's.

"Pft! That was the lamest advice since 'listen to your heart'. There's no way that that would help Sasuke at all!"

Easily provokable as she is, Sakura rose to the challenge, "Oh yeah? Well I bet you couldn't do any better!"

"I bet that Sasuke-teme and Hinata-chan will be together by the end of the day, all thanks to me! And when that happens, you'll have to treat me to ramen for a month!"

"Fine! But if I win you'll have to carry my books for me for a month!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

And with that the two shook hands before parting ways, both extremely late for first period.

"They make such a cute couple!" Tsunade exclaimed, leaning against the entrance doors.

"Only Tsunade-sama would think of those two as a prime example of a healthy relationship…" Shizune muttered under her breath from beside her. "AND SHOULDN'T YOU BE WORKING RIGHT NOW!?"

"Is there anything wrong with a woman taking some time off to visit her cute little nephew?"

"THERE IS WHEN SHE'S THE PRESIDENT OF FIRE COUNTRY! And don't you mean grandson..?"

"SHIZUNE! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO BRING UP MY AGE!?"

------

"What a shit day," Sasuke groaned, back at his locker again.

The entire school day had been spent trying to corner Hinata (and failing), avoiding the protective trio (and succeeding for the most part, save a few bruises and a sprained ankle) and running away fangirls (who seemed to have multiplied).

"Oi!" he growled at a couple getting…_intimate_ by his locker, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Ah, it's Uchiha Sasuke!" they screamed, quickly making themselves scarce.

Sasuke scowled, noticing for the first time that quite a few people were paired off and acting _love-dovey_. _'Is Kami trying to make me feel even worse about myself or something? What's with the love-fest?'_

"Whatever," he said dismissively, unlatching his locker door-

"Oh shi-"

Only to be knocked over by a flood of letters and heart shaped boxes.

Sprawled on the ground, Sasuke brushed himself off and stood up. "God dammit, what is with today?" He picked up a random letter and tore it open uncaringly. "Dear Sasuke-kun" he read, "Happy…Va..len- No! It can't be!"

"Hey you!" he called out to a random passer-by, his tone of voice making them freeze in fear.

"Please don't hurt me!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the dramatics. "What day is it?"

"Wednesday!" was the quick reply.

Sasuke was not amused. "I meant what_ date_ is it?"

"Ah, February 14, sir!"

Sasuke's eyes grew wide as he spun his head back to the hundreds of love letters and chocolates surrounding him – the unfortunate _random passer-by_ took this opportunity to escape.

"But I always mark this date with a warning on the calendar and there was nothing there this morning! The only explanation could be…ITACHI! DAMMIT!" Sasuke cried, steaming with anger and shaking his fist at thin air.

'_Foolish ototou' _his conscience chimed in.

Gathering as many of the unwanted gifts as possible, Sasuke dumped them into a nearby garbage can and nodded with satisfaction. He frowned when he spotted a letter that had slipped out of his grasp and landed by his foot. Picking it up he was perturbed to find that, unlike the others, this letter was not pink or red or doused in foul-smelling perfume. It was actually rather plain (_'simple'_). When he flipped it over Sasuke had to stop from slapping himself in disbelief because in tiny, cursive writing the name 'Hyuuga Hinata' was signed on the front.

'_Could it be…?'_

With trembling fingers Sasuke opened the letter and pulled out the paper with a short message scrawled on it.

'Meet me on the roof at 3:00, please'

Based on the _overwhelming_ evidence (today was valentine's day, it was a letter, it was a letter in his _locker_, she wanted to meet with him _alone _in a very clichéd romantic spot) Sasuke immediately came to one conclusion, after all he'd been in this position many times before.

'_She's going to confess to me!'_

Sasuke closed his eyes in bliss as he imagined the scene in his head.

–_Sasuke's Fantasy–_

_Hinata standing in a field wearing a blue sundress with a floppy hat on. "Oh, Sasuke-kun!" she cried, running towards him." The sun shone off her hair and shojo bubbles appeared out of nowhere._

"_Oh, Hinata-chan!" Sasuke called out, running to meet her._

"_Sasuke-kun!"_

"_Hinata-chan!"_

"_Sasuke-kun!"_

–_End Sasuke's Fantasy–_

Other students couldn't help but stare as Sasuke blushed prettily and giggled to himself, hands spread open wide as if to receive a hug.

Shikamaru was forced to abandon his lazy nature for the sake of his friend's safety by helping Chouji to physically restrain Ino from running into Sasuke's arms.

It's not certain how long Sasuke might have remained in his dream world were the final bell not to ring at that moment.

"I'm late!" Sasuke yelled, snapping out of it.

He tried to run towards the stairwell, but was reminded of his sprained leg by the pain. Disregarding his cool image for once in his life (though that had already been shot to death with Zaku's party, the morning incident and his recent fantasizing in the middle of the hallway) Sasuke attempted to speed-hobble (as opposed to speed-walk). Finally reaching the stairs, Sasuke dropped his head in despair.

'_Why does a school with less than 50 students have to have 3 storeys?'_

--------------

–Four Flights of Stairs Later_–_

Sasuke slammed open the roof door triumphantly, his air of victory ruined only slightly by his red-faced, exhausted visage.

"Uchiha-kun," cried a certain Hyuuga heiress, moving forward worriedly, only to stop after a few steps.

"H-Hinata," the boy returned, trying to regain his nonchalant attitude.

Eyes averted, fingering her lips self-consciously, Hinata asked, "Are you okay?"

"Never better," Sasuke wheezed, trying not to stare at her lips.

'_To think that a month ago I actually touched those lips with my own…'_

He broke away from the dangerous thoughts reminding himself of the outcome of _that_ particular action. "You wanted to talk to me?" he asked instead, getting straight to the point.

Hinata blushed furiously and Sasuke found himself thinking about how much he had missed seeing that blush.

"I d-did," she confirmed, "but n-now that you're h-here in front of m-me…I-I-I don't know what t-to say." She ducked her head in embarrassment.

"The best thing to do would be to come out and say it," Sasuke told her, trying to be encouraging in his own _unique_ way.

"B-But-"

"Come on."

"But I-I-"

"Just say it!"

"I MISSED YOU!" she blurted out, face aflame. She blinked rapidly in surprise at her own audaciousness and took a few steps back. "I…m-missed you," she repeated softly.

Sasuke was speechless. For all his fantasizing, he'd expected Hinata to bitch him out (or the 'Hinata' version of bitching-out) and yell at him (as much as Hinata could yell at someone, anyway).

'_This is actually starting to sound like a confession…is it too much to hope for?'_

"Y-You became a r-really good friend o-of mine a-and I found m-myself missing y-your company a-and…I j-just really w-want us to g-go back t-to normal…if that's p-possible," she whispered meekly.

Sasuke deflated.

More than anything he wanted to accept and go back to normal, but he knew that if he bottled up his feelings once more something like New Years might happen again and he wouldn't be able to live with himself after hurting Hinata twice, not to mention that after a second time Hinata might not be so forgiving. Memories of the past month paired with the thought of years without her presence moved him to take action.

"Hinata, you should know by now that friendship…isn't enough for me," he said, managing to force the embarrassing words out of his mouth.

Sasuke _hated_ talking about his feelings.

'_But if it's for Hinata…'_

"I…" He took a deep breath. "I really like you, Hyuuga Hinata!" Sasuke said loudly and clearly, confessing properly with a wait-deep bow. "I know I can't expect you to reciprocate these feelings of mine and I'm sorry to bother you with them, but hiding them forever is impossible for me! All I can ask is that you accept them as they are…please," he told her, still facing the ground.

He could hear Hinata's surprised gasp and her approaching footsteps. He closed his eyes, fully expecting her to walk past him and exit the roof.

"Wha-"

Small hands lifted him up and soon enough a warm body was cushioned in his own, soft hair tickling his chin.

'_H-Hinata…'_

"P-Please forgive m-me!" she bawled. Sasuke could feel tears soaking the collar of his school shirt.

"A-Ah, Hinata!" he panicked, "Don't cry!" He tried to get a look at her face, but she only clung to him harder. After floundering in alarm for a few seconds, he ended up resorting to smoothing her hair down muttering mechanical-sounding 'There there's'.

Once he'd managed to calm her down a bit, Hinata went on to explain.

"I-I'm s-such a h-h-horrible friend, n-not noticing y-your feelings! I-I'm the w-worst, I-"

"Stop right there, Hinata," Sasuke said, completely serious, "There is no way I'm letting you take the blame for that, it was my own fault. I was the one that was too cowardly to confess to you and I was the one that tried to force my feelings on you with a kiss. I was selfish and didn't think of your feelings."

"Y-You were d-drunk, though…" Hinata argued weakly.

"That's no excuse," Sasuke rebutted, sounding exceedingly mature, almost Itachi-worthy.

It was silent for a few seconds before Hinata' sniffling subsided.

"Ne, Uchiha-kun, you really are pretty cool," she teased, peering up at him with watery eyes and a flushed nose and cheeks.

Sasuke blushed hotly, "I-I"

Hinata giggled. "C-Cute too," she murmured to herself, but Sasuke heard it.

"E-Excuse me?!" he exclaimed.

"Ah!" Hinata squeaked, burying her head back into his shirt.

A few minutes passed with the two trying to cool down their blushes.

"I-I think," Hinata said, words slightly muffled by Sasuke's shirt fabric, "I think that I c-could t-try it…"

"Try it?" Sasuke repeated dumbly.

He felt Hinata nod against his chest. "Try u-us," she clarified, too nervous to look up, but Sasuke wasn't having any of that.

He cupped her cheeks with both hand and lifted her head up to lock eyes. Seeing her apprehensive look, teeth nibbling on her pink bottom lip, his own lips formed a small smile of pure happiness. Sasuke leaned his forehead against hers, earning an (_'adorable'_) embarrassed sound, and basked in the moment and the warmth of the girl he…_liked_.

He was still a boy and still too terrified of the other dreaded four letter word.

Finally after a few heavenly moments, Sasuke reluctantly pulled away.

"You know this means you're my valentine, right?" he told her, not pausing long enough for an answer, "And I'll forgive you for not getting me chocolates-"

Hinata emitted an indignant sounding yelp.

"-But you're not getting out of the mandatory valentine's date."

Seeing as Hinata seemed like she'd actually gathered her thoughts enough to reply, Sasuke planted a kiss on one flushed cheek and successfully scrambled her mind again.

"Now come on," he said, grabbing her hand and leading her down the stairs. "And you should call me Sasuke now," he added as an after-thought.

--------------

"Kami, Naruto look!" Sakura shrieked, nudging the blonde with a sharp elbow.

"Ow, Sakura-chan! What is it?" Naruto asked, straightening up from his position slouched against the wall.

Apparently the sight had rendered Sakura at a loss for words for she could only point.

"Are… is that Sasuke and…NO WAY! TEME'S GOT GAME?!"

"Dobe, shut up," Sasuke said, having heard Naruto's voice from 20 meters away.

"N-Naruto-kun, S-Sakura-chan," Hinata greeted from his side, trying, and failing, to act casual about their joined hands.

"So you took my advice then?" Sakura asked, a victorious look upon her face.

Sasuke shrugged, "Actually, it was Hinata that came to me."

Surprised, the two bright-haired individuals turned to the blushing girl.

"A-Ano… i-it was N-Naruto-kun that-"

"WHAT!?" Sakura screamed. "THERE'S NO WAY YOU WON, NARUTARD!"

Sasuke sensed the start of a let's-see-who-can-out-scream-the-other fight and quickly dragged Hinata away.

Naruto chuckled weakly, confused. _'To be honest, I completely forgot about the bet…'_

But unable to deny the opportunity for free ramen, he went along with it. "HA! I TOLD YOU I WOULD, SAKURA-CHAN!"

------------

Glancing back at the loud pair, Hinata furrowed her brows in confusion. _'I was just going to say that it was the memory of Naruto-kun's attitude that gave me the courage to speak to Sasuke…did I do something wrong..?'_

She turned to voice these thoughts to Sasuke, but found her mind wiped blank of all thoughts when he smiled back at her.

'_Ah, it's probably nothing…'_

She squeezed his hand and beamed contentedly.

End

Omake

"Another bowl please!" Naruto announced, stacking his empty one in a large pile to his right.

"Coming right up!"

Beside him Sakura wept into her empty purse. _'Am I going to be indebted at such a young age?'_

Omake End//

---------

**I'm sorry it's not that good... I tried, but I think it ended up as pretty boring, huh?**

**Also, for those of you concerned about OOC Sasuke, well, maybe I stretched it a bit, but from the Wave Arc with him competing with Naruto by stuffing his face with rice and the What's Under Kakashi's Mask episode Sasuke's proven to have a silly side that comes out in certain situations with certain people ^___^ You KNOW a freaking-out/blushing/stuttering Sasuke is adorable! Besides, I think that with Itachi back in his life, Sasuke's reverted to his younger days when he had a very carefree, Naruto-esque attitude.**

**Anyways, please review with your thoughts and maybe some professional advice (I could use it, ne? -___-')**

**Midnight's Violet Haze**

**HS**


End file.
